PRAYERS AT BREWERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20405, 6 November 1929, Page 13

PRAYERS AT BREWERY.

OTAHUHU DEMONSTRATION*;

WOMEN KNEEL BY ROADSIDE*

OBJECTION TO LICENCE* A strange scene was witnessed outsiia the new Waitemata Brewery near Otahuh'u, yesterday, when about 70 members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, headed by their president, Mrs.' Harrison Lee Cowie, knelt in prayer as a» protest against the licensing of the establishment by the Minister of Customs. The women had previously marched in procession through the township.

More than half the demonstrators went from Auckland in one of the Transport! Board's largest buses, which was filled.. The assembly-place was the Otahuhu Baptist Church, where a prayer-meeting was held.

After a hymn and prayer, Mrs. Cowia briefly addressed the gathering. She recalled the birth of the Women's Christian Temperance Union many years ago at Hillshorough, Ohio, and its early achievements. "We remember," she said, "how bands of devoted women went' out and knelt in front of saloons in all weatheis, praying that God would softea the hearts of the men who kept them. Their prayers were answered and people were so touched that 300 saloons wers closed through the efforts of these de* voted women."

Minister and Brewer. The Rev. T. H. Eccersall, minister of the church, offered the visitors a welcome. "This is a day of witness and pro* test," he declared. "Let it be understood that we have no quarrel with the owner of the brewery. I have never met that gentleman, and desire here and now to express my best wishes for his well«i r being. As the originator of the protest, it is my duty and privilege to do so. "I do not know whether he is here r but if so he is just as welcome as anyone. He may be a. generous, genial, good and moral person,, but—l say this deliberately—he has a hell of a job." If it' is not so our presence here is useless and our protest is vain." Mr. Eccersall then read a manifesto, which, he said, he would invite the gath-i ering to endorse or reject. The document referred to the moral responsibility o£ the Mayor and Borough Council of Otahuhu, and stated that though the brewery was not in the borough it nag near enough to be a menace to both the tows ' and the travelling public. Sir Joseph Ward's Chance.

"Tbe Prime Minister has submitted that the licence for the brewery was granted without the serious consideration it should have, received. We, therefore, submit that a injustice has been committed and urge that the. licence be cancelled even if compensation be givtin, and hope.that the present brewers will put their money into a better form of investment that shall help forward the prosperity and sobriety of the people of j the district. ... In the name of doi I and home and humanity, we make our protest, this morning. Whatever elsa happens, let the record go upon high,ringing through the land and down the ages: 'We protest.'" . U--"If nothing else comes of this protest,'s Mr. Eccersall said, "there is at least this, that never again will a brewery licenca be-all owed to bo given under the same conditions. Sir Joseph Ward is an old and much-tried man. In the course of nature he has not many years left to him. Let us hope that he will do one of the greatest things of his life and enabla future generations to say that he wiped this thing out." ; j The congregation unanimously approved the manifesto by standing in silence. March Up Main Street.

Prayer was then oSered for the brew-ery-owner, that he might see his sad mistake and rectify it, even at the 605$ of his livelihood, for the common good. Leaving the church in two buses, tha female crusaders alighted in - the main street and formed up in single file, headed by Mrs. Cowie, carrying a white and blue flag with a red cross. Behind her was a banner, inscribed, "W.C.T.U., for. God, Home and Humanity.". A hundred or two people watched the procession S3 it insinuated itself between the two streams of motor traffic. Beyond a few jeers from groups of men there was no counter demonstration. Half-a-mila further on the women climbed again into their buses and rode another half-mile over the Tamaki Bridge, and so to the , brewery. That establishment had by no means stopped work for the occasion. Its chimney was expelling black smoke, and tha pleasant odour of malt gave an "atmos* phere" to all the later proceedings.! Some of the brewery hands were outside.® and there were about 50 other spectators, whose cars lined the roadway foi; yards on either-side.

" Make It a Flour Mill." Mrs. Cowie grouped her followers. oa a patch of rough grass between the building and the roadway, and led them in a verse or two of "O God, Our Help in Ages Past." This over, she addressed tho onlookers. "We have come to pray that this building may be turned to a place of good and not of evil," she said. "You all know that drink is the cause of many tragedies and much poverty. We are here in the interests of all, and you will understand our opposition. We hops that God will turn this place into a flourmill, a woollen mill, a dairy factory, or a church—something good for the people.W© have had no help from Parliament or man, so we have come to ask Him.*'

"Every prisoner in gaol is a mother's ohilcU. Prisoners have told me themiselves. that 50 per. cent, of this men in Mount Eden are there through drink. Ws want to save, the babies—the citizens of this future." -

The women, or nearly all of them, knelt, down, and Mrs. Cowie offered up--11 fervent prayer that the brewery building might be converted to other us»s and mot be a cause of injury, poverty and isOrrow.

Other women, one after another, added 'their prayers, but the gusty wind car* i:ied away most of what they said. One, however, was heard to pray specially for, the brewery-owner. Leader's Benediction. A voice urged one lady to "speak up,;' 'but otherwise the onlookers kept a re-< ispectful silence. They had-been joined by a knot of'mothers and children from .nearby houses. These showed no outward signs of sympathy with the kneeliing women. . The strains of another hymn rose as tfia crusaders got up from their knees an walked to the buses. Mrs. Cowia, stall holding the flag, turned - back and pronounced a benediction. God bloss jm *11," she said to the spectators "and,. ]' hope it is turned into a church. 1 Then the Luses trundled away to ths baptist Church, where the .women .r<* ? freshed themselvee with tea. ;s /' / Two men with the party, Mr. E. aUd Mr. D. M. A. Bodlejr, psrters to put their names on :j oiHaal^r^eg^^^^^ag